With commitment and collaboration between public and private sectors, the Culture Standard is emerging as a powerful tool for driving cultural transformation within the construction infrastructure sector. Here are the frequently asked questions.
Who is the Construction Industry Culture Taskforce?
The Construction Industry Culture Taskforce (CICT) is a joint initiative of the Australian Constructors Association, representing the nation’s largest construction firms, the Governments of New South Wales and Victoria and Australia’s leading workplace researchers.
Why do we need culture change in the construction industry?
Australia urgently needs to recruit additional construction workers to deliver critical infrastructure projects for the country. However, construction is under pressure and is not viewed as an employer of choice due to significant cultural issues – excessive work hours and fatigue, poor mental health, and failure to attract a diverse workforce.
What is the Culture Standard?
The Culture Standard provides a framework for procuring organisations and contractors to work together to address significant challenges facing the construction industry. The Culture Standard seeks to leverage procurement processes across the country to transform the capacity and effectiveness of the industry and improve the lives of those working in it. It is a key step to securing the sustainability of the construction industry and ensuring it can deliver the projects needed to shape Australia’s future.
What benefits will the Culture Standard provide?
Adopting the Culture Standard will improve project delivery outcomes for Government, benefit our workers, and the nation. Along with other industry reforms, it will provide an economic and social dividend for us all.
- Benefits for workers: Improved quality of life, a workplace that supports health and wellbeing, and a workplace where everyone has a place and feels valued.
- Benefits for industry: Increased productivity, attract new workers to rewarding and essential jobs, and improved workforce diversity and retention rates.
- Benefits for customers: Increased capacity to deliver the infrastructure pipeline, industry positioned to support economic recovery from COVID-19, and purchase services that provide diverse, safe and healthy workplaces.
How do we know the Culture Standard will work?
We are adopting a consultative and evidence-based approach to develop the Culture Standard to ensure the cultural shift is widely supported.
A robust and rigorous program of research has been supported by the CICT to understand the industry’s response to and impact of the Culture Standard. A multidisciplinary team of researchers from RMIT University, the University of Melbourne/University of Sydney and the Australian National University was engaged to understand the response to and impact of the Draft Culture Standard. Economists were also engaged to work alongside the research team to undertake an analysis of the costs and benefits associated with implementing the draft Culture Standard.
To strengthen the evidence base for adoption, the Culture Standard has been piloted on five (5) projects in the jurisdictions of NSW and Victoria encompassing a range of project and contract types.
Additionally, the CICT coordinated Round 1 and Round 2 Consultation with construction workers and organisations throughout Australia. The Round 1 2021 Consultation provided opportunity to gain initial feedback on the proposed draft Culture Standard. The focus of Round 2 2025 Consultation is to ensure that the requirements of the Culture Standard are clearly expressed, that sufficient guidance information has been provided and implementation resources support effective adoption of the Culture Standard.
When will the Culture Standard be finalised?
The Culture Standard is in the process of being finalised to incorporate research and Pilot Project findings. Following a second round of consultation the final version will be released early 2025 and will include resources to support implementation of the Culture Standard.
When will the Final Report be available?
The Final RMIT Report will be available in early 2025. RMIT University is currently preparing the Final Report capturing the impact of the draft Culture Standard across five Pilot Projects. It will also incorporate a Cost Benefit Analysis undertaken by Frontiers Economics and feedback from Key Decision Makers across Industry and Governments.
How does the Culture Standard align with existing policies applied through construction procurement?
The Culture Standard recognises many jurisdictions have existing policy frameworks in place that aim to improve culture and diversity outcomes within the sector. The Culture Standard can be delivered alongside these policies without causing duplication.
To guide procuring organisation and contractor ‘s implementation, an Implementation Working Group (IWG) has been established to develop tools and resources that will support implementation. These tools include: action plan templates, case studies and implementation success factors (lessons learned from Pilot Projects).
Does the Culture Standard mandate a hard Monday to Friday work week?
No, the Culture Standard does not require a hard Monday to Friday work week. It offers a tested and flexible framework for clients and contractors to address excessive work hours. The Culture Standard is focused on a 5 day in 7 work week for individual workers.
The Culture Standard Time for Life pilar requires “All workers work 5 in 7, ideally Monday to Friday with access to two consecutive days off. Target that all workers work less than 50 hours / week and ensure that no workers work over55 hours / week. This requirement applies to individual workers only. Project operation schedule is not restricted to 5 days.“
For more information about the lived experience of the Culture Standard (and the application of a flexible 5 days in 7 work week), listen to the recording of our recent webinar (Available here: https://www.constructionindustryculturetaskforce.com.au/webinar-a-new-industry-culture-standard-get-ready/ ).
Does the Culture Standard cost more to carry out on projects?
Findings of the cost benefit analysis undertaken by Frontier Economics found no evidence to suggest that the Draft Culture Standard adversely affected the cost or time required to deliver the Pilot Projects. Research findings will be made available in the CICT Final Report due for release early 2025.
Many people are leaving the sector not only because of excessive work hours but because of poor workplace cultures and behaviours. Does the Culture Standard address this?
The Culture Standard addresses three major issues holding back the industry. These are:
- Long working hours – hours of work in the industry are excessive, resulting in high rates of turnover, absenteeism, and stress-related leave
- Lack of gender diversity – failure to attract and retain women narrows the industry’s talent pool and reduces its capacity to deliver projects, and
- Wellbeing – stress levels are high and the suicide rate amongst construction workers is double the national average.
The Culture Standard promotes respectful and inclusive workplace cultures to ensure the industry can attract and retain a diverse range of people.
The requirements for Inclusive workplace of the Culture Standard – under Diversity Pillar are:
- No pornography or offensive materials and behaviour are tolerated in the workplace.
- It also requires that appropriate amenities are provided for all workers.
The construction industry extends much further than the Pilot Projects examples. How do you take this into consideration?
The Culture Standard is a proven and practical framework that is aimed to be embedded in procurement processes across all jurisdictions. It has been designed to be flexible and implementable across a diverse range of projects.
The CICT is working closely with stakeholders providing broad representation across the industry, including industry associations, employers, unions and procuring agencies.
In 2024, the Culture Standard gained significant traction in parallel of its research and piloting program. For example, the principles of the Culture Standard are aligned with the NSW Government Principles for Partnership with the Construction Industry and the Federal Funding Agreement Infrastructure Schedule by the Federal Government. In addition to the ongoing support from Health Infrastructure, there has been early adoption of the Standard by Major Project Canberra, Transport for NSW, School Infrastructure and Development Victoria.
Is it possible to apply the Culture Standard on vertical and horizontal projects?
The Culture Standard provides a proven and flexible framework that can be delivered on a diverse range of project types. Projects piloting the Culture Standard represented a range of construction projects of different sizes, types, and contract models.
Over the last two years, two vertical projects and three horizontal projects implemented the draft Culture Standard.
What is the plan for sharing the positive impacts of the Culture Standard more widely?
The CICT hosted a webinar in November 2024. This webinar was an important milestone for the CICT. It helped spread the word about the Culture Standard, our research findings and its proven benefits.
In early 2025, the CICT will release the Final Report prepared by RMIT University.
What advice do you have for where to start? Are there any key lessons learned that are helpful to know
The Culture Standard provides a proven and practical framework for clients and contractors to create transformative cultural change within the sector.
Communication is crucial. Start early to engage with your key stakeholders, client, union representative and the workforce. Lessons learned show that once people understood the reason why the change was required, and the positive impacts they were supportive of the initiative.
Early engagement helps inform a robust planning phase to drive the intended benefits in line with each project specificities and milestones.
To guide procuring agencies and contractors with implementation, the CICT Implementation Working Group is preparing a suite of implementation resources to support the implementation of the Culture Standard.
Does the Culture Standard and Implementation Resources recognise the importance of strong leadership and governance to be accountable for the implementation of the culture standard?
The Culture Standard requires leadership from both: client-side and contractor-side. As one Pilot Project’s client said in the recent CICT webinar: “The Culture Standard delivered a high-level of commitment very early on.”